The Hong Kong Customs and Excise Department has bred its own sniffer dogs for the first time in 45 years, and the program should see the introduction of firearms detector dogs as early as next year.

Assistant commissioner Ida Ng Kit-ching introduced six Labrador retriever puppies born on July 25 while in the care of the Customs Canine Force.

They are expected to go into service as one of the four types of sniffer dogs - detectors of drugs, explosives, cash or firearms.

Ng said the rising number of firearms cases from nine last year to 31 cases in the first nine months of this year had spurred the department to plan to introduce and train dogs that specialize in detecting weapons.

The aim is to send at least one qualified firearms detector dog next year to assist at the airport.

The names of the six three-months-old dogs - four males and two females - are based on the letters that form the word "legend." So they are Lettie, Echo, Gasper, Elmo, Nicky and Dante. Their parents, Cooper and Fifi, are three-year-old drug detector dogs from the United Kingdom and the mainland that have been working for about two years.

The puppies are now under basic training to strengthen sensory skills such as vision, hearing, touch and biting.

The department has prepared a room full of items, including a trampoline, carpets and ball pits, to imitate their future working environments. They will include cargo examination compounds, immigration control points and the airport.

"Normally they will start formal training at the age of about one year," Ng said, adding that the breeding success "can ensure a steady and continuous supply of detector dogs."

Ng also said this is a suitable year for starting the breeding scheme as it is more difficult to import dogs for training due to Covid-19.

In preparation for helping with the program 10 customs officers in July completed a five-day canine breeding training course conducted by City University Veterinary Medical Centre and the Jockey Club College of Veterinary Medicine and Life Sciences.

Currently, the Customs Canine Force has 70 teams, each of one dog and a handler.

The department will continue to import dogs and to breed locally.

The scene in Legco on May 8.

New sniffing power turned on